Matthew 20:17-28

Matthew 20:17-28

Jesus and His followers are on the final leg of the trip to Jerusalem. Having just told the parable of the vineyard workers He has repeated that the, “First shall be last and the last first,” principle that is now reinforced in three ways.

In verses 17-19, Jesus clearly states that the rejection of the Messiah by Israel will be complete once He arrives in Jerusalem. He predicts the behavior of the religious elite and their collaboration with the Romans for His death. This will be no heroic battlefield death of a political messiah and martyr; but rather, the torturous, humiliating crucifixion with the dregs of societal scum. Jesus has called His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. What has till now been a metaphor is about to become a stark reality. We cannot tell if the disciples considered this prediction of Jesus to be an abstract or a metaphor.

The second expression of the first and last inversion is how Jesus responds to the request of James, John and their mother. These two with Peter formed the inner circle of Jesus’s confidants. In 19:28 Jesus has promised the twelve that they will sit on thrones and judge Israel. Now it is just a matter of who will be the first among the twelve. Peter being identified with Satan in 16:23 and with verse 19:30 as a subtle rebuke for his self-aggrandizing comment in verse 19:27 the time was right for James and John to secure the position of supremacy among the apostles. Jesus asked them if they could drink from the cup He is about to take. With great audaciousness they assure Him that they can. Their boldness is reflective of grand confidence and practical ignorance. Jesus tells them they will indeed drink from the cup, James the first apostle to be executed and John the last who would endure Patmos. Then Jesus upset their plans telling them that the place in the Kingdom is not earned but given. All of us have a place in the Kingdom not because we earn it, but it is given by God’s gracious hand.

For a third time Jesus put first and last upside down. If there is any doubt, Jesus explains that He did not come to be served but to serve. The Son of Man, Matthew referring again to the Daniel passage, is going to fulfill the unique calling of the Father. While our service is different it must grow from the same motive, to serve-to be a servant. Jesus in one sentence sums up the entire covenant of grace, “to give His life a ransom for many.” In the inverted universe of the Kingdom the lower, more humble and more selfless the service the closer to the first place we move. This service must never be a means to the end of position. The service is always for the sake of the other.

The great weakness of the church has been that it has failed to teach the way of the cross, not a means to heaven or advancement or career, but as an uncomfortable way and inconvenient way to embrace being last and in so doing be like our Savior.

"God, help me to live in the Kingdom where daily I am willing the last. AMEN"